Joel and Ethan Coen came on board last month to write the script for the project, which Marc Platt and Kristie Macosko Krieger will produce with Spielberg. Adam Somner and Daniel Lupi will exec produce.

The Coens, who won screenwriting Oscars for “Fargo” and “No Country for Old Men,” are revising Matt Charman’s script.

The untitled project is based on the true story of James Donovan, whom Hanks will portray. Donovan was the American attorney enlisted by the CIA during the Cold War to surreptitiously negotiate the 1962 release of Francis Gary Powers, the U2 spy plane pilot who had been shot down over Russia two years earlier.

In mid-April, Variety reported that Hanks had come on board the project. It’s the first directing gig for Spielberg since “Lincoln,” which was filmed in late 2011.

Fox also co-financed “Lincoln” with DreamWorks, with Disney handling domestic distribution and Fox on the overseas release.

Hanks and Spielberg have worked together on previous films “Saving Private Ryan,” “Catch Me if You Can” and “The Terminal.”